A Revelation
by SerenityFalconNormandy
Summary: Freeform prompt: You're always on my mind. Perinne's chronic condition takes a turn for the worst when the Warhawk crew departs from Tatooine.


The Mos Ila spaceport had never looked as good as it did at that moment. Perinne Calledus couldn't wait to board the Warhawk and wash the Tatooine grit out of her hair. If she didn't have to, Peri was never coming back to this forsaken planet again. Not for the first time, she considered chopping off the thick braid of blue-black hair that fell down her back. With the heavy titanium cap at the end, it made an effective weapon, a weighted whip that her enemies did not anticipate. On this dustball, they both absorbed the heat and made everything even more miserable. She was certain there was a burn on the small of her back from leaning against the metal banding at one point.

Covering her mouth, Peri let out a dry, barking cough. She had gone too long without a treatment for her lungs and throat, and the arid heat was exacerbating the condition. Quinn glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "My lord?"

He would never address her breathing problems directly in an unsecure location. The corrosive gas that had taken her mother and father, and three of her siblings away left her alive, but dependent on kolto vapor treatments to keep her airways from collapsing. It also left her with the husky voice of someone decades older who had chain-smoked cigarras. She normally wore a face mask similar to Darth Malgus's that helped, but the pervasive dust in Tatooine's atmosphere had clogged its filters within hours of landing. Her skills in the Force had been commented on since her infancy, but the ability to fully mend the ruined flesh in her throat and lungs was not in her purview. She hadn't said anything to Quinn, only warned him to bring kolto vaporizors.

"This hellscape is certainly drier than Dromund Kaas."

A tiny smile lifted the corner of his mouth before his face smoothed into the impassive mask he usually kept it in. "Indeed it is, my lord."

"Peri. How many times do I have to ask you to call me Peri?"

"Peri… my lord." She rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything more.

His rigid shell cracked a little when they entered the spaceport and the environmental controls kicked in, bathing them in cool air. Both of them tipped their heads back and groaned in relief. Peri muttered, "I am never coming back here unless it's a direct order from the Emperor himself."

"I wholeheartedly approve, my lord."

Sharack Breev was waiting in the private hangar, skulking around outside the Warhawk with her head hanging in shame. Peri did her best to be polite, but was impatient for the shower waiting for her inside. Real water, not the sonic showers she'd had to resort to the whole time they'd been planet-bound. She also had to hold in no less than five coughs, so as not to let her Master's creature know that there was an issue. Finally, the woman bowed and departed.

The hangar was warmer than corridors of the spaceport, and Peri had started sweating again. She could see a trickle slide down the side of Quinn's face, cutting a trail through the dust. He spoke stiffly, "It will be a pleasure to put this overheated sandbox behind us."

He had tanned, whereas she had burned daily. Damn Lady Griton for keeping her confined to the estate on Dromund Kaas, and the persistent cloud-cover that lead to her having an uncomfortably pale complexion. Still, the deeper tones complimented his black hair, and the piercing blue of his eyes. "You look good with a tan, Captain."

"I hope it hides my blushes, my lord."

He bowed at the waist, usering her up the ramp to the Warhawk's entry port. As he was keying in the security codes, Peri felt the tickle in the back of her throat again, and tried to hold it in. They were minutes from her being able to do another vapor treatment, now was not the time for this nonsense! The tickle became more intense, and her eyes started to water while her shoulders shook with the effort of holding the coughing in.

"I'll start preparations to depart imm- Peri?"

It became too intense, and bracing herself with a hand on the bulkhead, she clapped the other over her mouth and bent double as the barking coughs escaped. As the door hissed open, she heard Quinn shout, "Vette, prep the vapor chamber in the medbay, now!"

"Wassup?" The perky chirp of the Twi'lek was overlaid by another bout of coughing, and Peri felt a blood vessel burst. Hot blood spattered between her fingers. Vette squeaked, "Holy kriff!"

" _Now,_ Vette!" Quinn swept Peri up in his arms, hot on Vette's heels towards the ship's medbay. He laid her on the exam table on her side as gently as he could and stripped off his dust-laden uniform jacket, and hurriedly scrubbed his hands and arms before slamming through cabinets. The next set of coughs sent black spots spinning across her vision, and the lack of oxygen forced her over the edge into unconsciousness.

* * *

The med bay was quiet and dim. Peri blinked to clear the fine droplets of kolto from her eyelashes, taking deep breaths to draw the blissfully humid and cool air as deep into her chest as possible. There was no crackling sensation until the last second of inhale, indicating that she'd been in the chamber for a few hours. She reached out with the Force, and was surprised to find Vette at the helm. Quinn was only a few feet away.

She rolled to her side, wiping the fog of kolto vapor off of the chamber. He was asleep in a chair, one he appeared to have dragged in from the conference room. Peri laughed to herself when she realized he was already showered, shaved, and stuffed back into an Imperial naval captain's uniform that was so perfectly starched and creased that it was probably used for reg manuals.

It was almost a miracle that he wasn't sleeping ramrod straight up. Instead, he was leaned on a fist with an elbow that was propped up on the side of the other vapor chamber. A swift rap of her knuckles on the duraplast jolted him awake.

"My lord Peri?"

"Ugh, I'll take it what I can get. Would you mind getting me out of here?"

Quinn sprang up and turned off the vapor vents. When the kolto mist was finished clearing, he unlatched the chamber and offered her a hand-up. Peri sat up carefully. Her hair had been let down, and she was in the serviceable Imperial reg undergarments that most of the Empire used. She raised an eyebrow at Quinn.

"Vette, my lo- Peri."

Peri felt a grin tug at the corner of her mouth. "I don't recall that we ever went over the treatments for my… condition."

"I did extensive research when I was assigned to the Warhawk. Family history, medical records, and the like. It was my duty to then learn all of the treatments that might be necessary to keep you in the best condition possible."

"So you know about my brothers Vulkaan and Magnus, then?"

"Indeed so, my- Peri."

"Well, you have me at a distinct disadvantage, Quinn. You know so much about me, but I hardly know anything about you."

Quinn looked disconcerted, and stuttered for a moment.

Peri laughed, "Calm down, Quinn. I'm just hoping you keep me in mind for your downtime."

"You're always on my mind."

The quiet admission, accompanied by the intense look in Quinn's dark blue eyes left her breathless. This time, the tickle in her chest had nothing to do with an imminent coughing fit.


End file.
